PARKERSBURG, W.V. – A Michigan retiree who has filed dozens of suits over ATM disclosures during the past three years has joined a new flurry of suits against credit unions and banks, just as Congress is taking up a potential solution to the mounting litigation.
Two new suits by Nancy Kinder—filed yesterday in federal court here against West Virginia’s Ravenswood FCU and Mountain Heritage FCU—come as a federal court in Detroit is expected tomorrow to approve Kinder’s year-old suit against Lenco CU claiming the Adrian, Mich., credit union violated provisions of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by failing to post a notice on the outside of its ATMs of the fee it will charge non-members for cash withdrawals.
The two new suits make a total of 35 filed by Kinder since 2009 and are among a dozen new EFTA suits filed against credit unions and banks over the past month.
The latest suits filed by Kinder, who has travelled the country with her boyfriend Ray Harrison to make claims in the Midwest, southwest and southeast, are the first she has filed in West Virginia, indicating a potential new front in the legal assault on ATM charges. Harrison himself, who is plaintiff in 30 ATM suits, filed a separate EFTA suit yesterday against West Virginia’s Telbec FCU.
The latest flurry comes as credit unions and banks have convinced Congress to consider legislation that would eliminate the EFTA’s requirement for dual fee disclosures—on screen and on the machine—with a requirement that consumers be notified only once of fees they may be charged for using the ATM.
